The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) was installed in the Hubble Space Telescope in May, 2009 as part of Servicing Mission 4 to provide high sensitivity, medium and low resolution spectroscopy at far- and near-ultraviolet wavelengths (FUV, NUV). COS
is the most sensitive FUV/NUV spectrograph flown to date, spanning the wavelength range from 900{AA} to 3200{AA} with peak effective area approaching 3000 cm^2. This paper describes instrument design, the results of the Servicing Mission Orbital Verification (SMOV), and the ongoing performance monitoring program.
We discuss the laser frequency comb as a near infrared astronomical wavelength reference, and describe progress towards a near infrared laser frequency comb at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and at the University of Colorado where
we are operating a laser frequency comb suitable for use with a high resolution H band astronomical spectrograph.
